Cable-railway grip



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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

DAVID S. MACKEY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA..

CABLE-RAILWAY GRIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,527, dated February'7, 1888.

I Application filed August 26, 1887. Serial No. 247.980. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, DAVID S. MAcKEY, of the city and county of SanFrancisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement inCable-Railway Grips; and I hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in cable-railway grips; andit consists in such a construction of the lower movable jaw of the grip,in connection with an adjustably-moving fulcrum, and the sliding -plateto which the jaw is hinged, that it may be thrown down and swungentirely out of the way ofthe rope in case of obstruction or accident,and it may be brought up in such a manner as to seize the rope wheneverdesired.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanationof my invention, Figure lis a view of thegrip showing the jaws closed.Fig. 2 is a view showing the jaws opened. Fig. 8 is a vertical section.

A are the bars or frame-work by which the grip mechanism is suspendedorsecured within the car or dummy, and B B are' guides eX- tendingdownward from this frame-work,pass ing through the slot in the road-bed,so as to support the upper gripping-jaw, C, and the guides K at thelower end for the purpose of receiving the ends of the fulcrum-bar, aswill be hereinafter described.

E is the lever by which the grip is opened and closed, this lever beingfulcrumed to the frame A, and connected by a link, F, with the slide G,moving between the guides B, as before described.

To the lower end of the sliding plate G is hinged the lowergripping-jaw, H, which in the present case is shown in the form of aquadrant in cross-section, the hinged point being at the meeting angleof the two radial lines, and the gripping-die is secured to one face ofthis jaw, so that when it is drawn up the rope will be grasped betweenit and the upper stationary jaw, as shown. I I are rollers at each endof the movable jaw and slightly above the Vlevel of the gripping-die, sothat when it is necessary to stop the cars the jaws are openedsufficiently to allow the rope to travel freely, and it runs upon theserollers, so as not to produce undue friction upon the ,grippingjawsrlhrough the lower angle at the opposite side kof this jaw from the facewhich grips the rope a stout bar or rod, J,

passes, and its ends enter the curved guideslotsK, so that when thelower jaw is thrown down by forcing the slide and its hinged edgedownward this fulcrum-rod will travel in thel curved slots so as tocarry the rear portion of the gripping-jaw backward until thegrippingface stands parallel with the slide which moves it, as shown inFig. 2, and at right angles with the upper gripping-jaw. This allows therope to run entirely clear of the grip, and is of especial advantage incase the rope becomes stranded and the strands bunch so that -it -wouldnot pass through an ordinary grip.

By my construction the stranded or obstructed rope is allowed to passfreely without any hinderance from the grip. When the-grip is to beclosed from this position by drawing up the slide, the rst movement -isto swing the lower edge upward, and as the movement is continued thetraveling fulcrum-rod moves around in the quadrant-shaped slots untilthe face of the lower die is brought opposite the upper one and inposition to again seize the A bove and within the arcof the curvedvrope. j guiding-groove K, in which the fulcrum-rod J travels,isjournaled a long roller, L,.in such a positionthat the inner or backportion of the lower swinging jaw, H, moves in contact with it whenthrown down, and when drawn up to grip the rope this roller bearsagainst its rear lower portion and holds it rigidly' to its place. j

In order to protect the guides B and the slide G from chafing againstthe edges of the l slot, and also to protect them from being chafed bythe cable when it is running through the open grip, I fix vertical steelstrips N in the faces of the guides,proj'ecting just sufficient toprotect them and the slides. These strips may be removed at any timewhen worn and re-v placed by others. rope may be dropped at any time andpicked up easily, as the sweep of the lower jaw in By this constructionthe closing will always take hold of the rope and bring it to its properposition between the two.

Having thus described my invention,whatI claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l'OO

1. In a cable-railway grip, the upper stawhen the grip is opened orclosed, substantionary jaw and the guides supported from the car, themovable slide moving between said guides and having the lowergripping-jaw hinged to its lower end, in combination with thequadrant-shaped Curved slots at the lower end of the frame, and thefulorum-rod extending through the edge of the movable jaw and into theseslots in which it travels, substantially as herein described.

2. The lower movable jaw of a cable-grip having one angle hinged to theverticallymoving slide by which itis opened and closed, in combinationwith a traveling fuleruln-rod or pins in the outer angle and thequadrantshaped slots in the stationary portion of the i'raine withinwhich said fuleruni-rod travels tially as herein described.

3. The lower movable jaw of a. cable-grip having one angle hinged to theverticallymoving slide, the fulerum-rod or pins extending from the outerangle into the curved guideslots in the stationary portion ofthe frame,in combination with the roller L, journaled in the frame and bearingagainst the rear portion ofthe inovablejaw, substantially as hereindescribed.'

ln witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

' DAVID S. MACKEY.

XVitiiesseS:

S. H. Nonnen, H. C. LEE.

